Brian Malow

On the eve of the final mission of NASA’s – and the nation’s – 30-year-long space shuttle program, I present to you a video love letter – my newest piece for Time Magazine’s website, wherein Tara and I journey to Florida to witness our first launch. STS-133, in February, was the last mission of space shuttle Discovery…

Discussion

Randy

Wonderful video! Sadly I’ve never seen a shuttle launch. I was there about 20 years ago on launch day, but it was scrubbed because of a faulty fuel pump with about 35 seconds to liftoff. What a bummer. Maybe you could say I experienced a version of shuttle ED.

Beth

Congratulations! I was one of your interviewees on the causeway — the pregnant one in the “Michigan Rocket Science” shirt. Glad I checked back on your site to see this, especially that adorable proposal.

Yes, I remember! Thanks! I would’ve loved to have used your interview but, in the end, as you see, I went a totally different direction with the piece. But, now that I think about it, maybe I’ll get a chance to edit together some of the interviews and throw them up on YouTube. Too bad there won’t be any more launches!

Beth

Oh, I highly doubt that anything I babbled could hold a candle to the look on your fiancee’s face! I love the idea of having been an unwitting party to an awesome proposal ruse, whether you ever intended to use those clips or not. But yeah, it’d be fun to see them if you get around to putting something together for YouTube!

I did gather the interviews in earnest – and there were several others. But you are right about the proposal ruse – I needed Tara not to suspect anything, even though I was setting up a camera to capture us watching the launch. (the zooming in during the proposal was actually done during editing – there was no other cameraman).

Kimberly Lambert

You know, I was thinking how much I would like to be inspired about space exploration. I was thinking about the sense of loss that permeates our society in these difficult times. My conclusion is that we need to be inspired to dream about the possibilities that space travel provides to our world. I would like to see you do a continuation/treatment of the work that was so wonderfully done in the Cosmos series. Make a pitch. We need to be able to dream again. I mean as opposed to living in fear. Good luck. Your bookmarked!!